Feb 28, 2017

Did Lapid apologize? Did he say he made a mistake? Just this past Wednesday he and his party raise all the anti-religious proposals again. One day he apologizes, and the next day he forgets. I won't speak with any person who leads the Yesh Atid party. It is not Lapid the person, it is the head of the party.

the Knesset yesterday passed a law proposal from MKs Nachman Shai (Hamachane Hatzioni) and Uri Maklev (UTJ) in its third and final reading (by a vote of 19-0) that would require anybody sending a piece of registered mail to provide identifying information (name and address) of the sender. The post office will not accept registered mail that does not include this information. As well, the post office will include in the note to the recipient the information of the sender.

The purpose of this is obvious - so the recipient can decide how urgent, if at all, it is for him or her to run to the post office and wait in line for the piece of mail.

The law exempts government offices, the police, fire and rescue services, courts and batei din from this law and would allow them to continue sending registered mail without the identifying information - and just state the sender as "the State of Israel". I guess the idea here is that people might prefer to not go pick up the mail if they suspect it might be a bill from the fire services or a fine from the police or a court order or whatnot.
source: Knesset

from Benny Friedman:All aboard! Folks, since the day I started traveling for music work and visiting Jewish communities around the world, it's been my dream to share the wonder of it all with you. Worldwide Yiddishkeit is a marvelous blend of languages, cultures, cuisines and incredible, delightful people.

The experience continues to be a privilege and honor - and such a pleasure! Hence, a brand new project: Benny Baderech, our very own video travel blog (try saying that 10 times fast). With the limited space in my luggage, I can't take you all with me, so instead, I invite you to join the fun and the marvel by enjoying the videos.

Take in the sights, the sounds, the amazing people we'll meet along the way, the grand diversity of holy Yidden across the spectrum who are firing on all cylinders in the work of filling the world with light.

Chapter One: The Holy Land! There's no better place to launch any project, especially one about Jews around the globe. Welcome to Israel!

Yishai Fleisher, the international spokesperson for the Jewish community in Hebron on the West Bank, discusses his New York Times Op Ed piece in which he offers various alternatives to the Two-State Solution. JBS’s “In The News” with Mark S. Golub.

Instagram Picture Gone Wild! The craze to get the right picture before we eat our food is taken to a whole new level when I visit Fireside restaurant and bring my production team with me to get the perfect picture for Instagram.

Feb 26, 2017

While this is an interesting discussion and psak, the more interesting part of this is actually post-psak.

A secular lettuce farmer had decided to grow his crop for Pesach, potentially a significant portion of his yearly parnassa, using some form of hydroponics - growing the lettuce in water instead of in soil. His thought process was that this would allow him to produce lettuce without bugs and without the need to use pesticides that could ruin the quality of the lettuce.

The problem they discovered, after the investment, was that such produce has rabbinic disputes surrounding them as to whether they are to be treated as produce from the ground that could be used as maror on Pesach or if they are blessed with the shehakol blessing because they are not considered vegetables from the ground. It seems that some poskim, including Rabbis ELyashiv and Wosner, determined the bracha to be ha'adama, while others, such as Rav Ovadia Yosef, determined it to be shehakol. The relevant farmers seemed to be heading into a potential disaster, not knowing if anyone would use this produce for maror on Pesach.

Rav Shlomo Ben Ezra, the rav of the Gezer Region Religious Council, decided to figure it all out for this farmer and spent weeks researching the issue and discussing it with rabbonim. Rav Ben Ezra's conclusion is that even according to the opinion that lettuce grown in water is not lie a normal ground-grown vegetable, it is still considered usable for maror, regardless of the psak adhered to regarding the bracha. This decision was signed on to by the Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak Yosef.

Rav Yosef added a requirement in his decision that the packaging of this lettuce include a statement that the lettuce was grown in water "so those who want to be machmir will know".

The farmers were very impressed with Rav Ben Ezra's dedication to the project and his assistance throughout the process. They said not being religious they never really had anything before to do with rabbis, but Rav Ben Ezra's involvement changed their attitude towards the rabbis, who are normally not painted well in the media.
source: Srugim

1. a helpful and accommodating approach, rather than a curt response or a brush off, can go a long way toward changing attitudes.

2. Regardless of Rav Ben Ezra's psak, and Rav Yosef's agreement, many people would still say it isn't enough. That's life. But at least he has a serious name behind him.

3. This is Pesach,.. and the mizva of maror. Putting a statement out like that on the packaging - grown in water, for the knowledge of those who want to be machmir - can be the death knell in the religious community for this lettuce. Who, especially on pesach, doesn't want to be machmir? Will people buy it knowing that they are expressly stating by doing so that they are not being machmir regarding the mitzva of maror?

Feb 23, 2017

I was at an IDF ceremony yesterday and among the various units participating in the ceremony were a couple of Haredi units, and probably other religious units (and definitely religious soldiers) as I saw many kippot among the soldiers.

At the end of the ceremony a recording of Hatikvah was played and the singer was a female.

I just want to point out that nobody walked out of the ceremony - none of the Haredi soldiers or the National Religious soldiers. We heard in the past in the news about times when they did, and many people get upset about such news reports, so I thought it noteworthy to point out that it probably happens more frequently that when stuff like this happens nobody walks out and nothing noteworthy happens.

One of the boys did tell me that they were surprised as normally the army avoids using female singers when the Haredi units are involved, but nobody was going to walk out because of the mistake.

Feb 22, 2017

Yossi Klein Halevi, award-winning author and Shalom Hartman Institute senior fellow, did a live broadcast on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Six Day War, and what it has meant for Israeli and Jewish society worldwide. Yossi answered questions during the program. The program was part of the Hartman Institute David Hartman Annual Conference for a Jewish-Democratic Israel.

Feb 20, 2017

What makes this "psak" particularly interesting is that it does not come from a rabbi (though maybe some rabbis are now issuing piskei halacha based on this, in one way or another). Rather, ti comes from the fire and rescue services.

This past Shabbos the fire and rescue services of Jerusalem were called into action to put out a fire in a yeshiva. The fire had originated from the sue of some sort of ad hoc "blech" - a metal sheet placed over a fire. Pots had been placed atop the blech to keep the food hot for the upcoming meals, and draped over the pots were towels, to keep the heat in.

The towels caught fire and it quickly spread. The firemen put the fire out relatively quickly, but much damage had already been done.

The fire and rescue services then issued a statement to the public saying that using an electric hotplate to heat up food for Shabbos is definitively prohibited, but using a blech is 7 times worse and 7 times more dangerous. The chance for a fire catching on the towels and spreading is extremely high and the chances are high for a fatal fire to spread. Many fires and much damage is caused regularly by using such hotplates and blechs, even proper ones, and covering the food.
source: Behadrei

I am pretty sure we hear even more frequently about fires that started from electric hotplates that shorted out or something else happened to that caused an electrical fire.

I'd say to only use hotplates made by reputable companies and to be careful to cover your food without letting towels touch the surfaces of the hot plate or blech, but the rescue services are saying that even that is not good enough and no such method should be used as they are all too dangerous. Unfortunately such a warning in basically a waste of time, as how do they expect anybody to heat up food for Shabbos, if neither a blech nor a hot plate is acceptable? If they really want people to listen and heed their warnings, they should figure out what the safe way is for keeping food hot on Shabbos and letting the public know what is acceptable, and not just what is not. As of right now, people will nto listen with every method they are familiar with being condemned and no alternative being offered.

There was some horrible case in Modiin Ilit of serious child abuse that led to the parents being arrested on Shabbos. After a doctor suspected abuse and reported it to the police, an investigation discovered, including supposedly catching serious abuse on camera form both the father and the mother, the abuse and led to arrests. They'll get their day in court, the legal process will move as normal, and they'll get their chance to argue their case and they'll either be guilty or innocent.

Among the articles I read about this, one of them quoted neighbors that are in shock about this and said things such as "we never suspected" and "they seemed like normal parents, we saw no indication of this", and the like.

There often is no clear indication. Abusers often look just like normal people, until they are behind closed doors with the people they abuse. It is the same shock people express when someone they know and never suspected is arrested for fraud, or for sexual abuse or being a pedophile or whatnot. They look like anybody else and often act like anybody else in public. If you do see or suspect something, it is important to check it out or report it to people who can, because it can go unnoticed for so long...

the gedolim of Eretz Yisrael have come out many times with statements that concerts and the like are prohibited, even with separate seating and even if the event is only for men.

Kikar reports about a "dinner" on behalf of the Gerrer institutions of Eretz Yisrael set to take place in the USA next week with the main attraction being a performance by Mordechai Ben David, along with some other performers.

Now, they could have explained it away saying that the Gerrer Rebbe never signed on any ban or prohibition but that would not be true as he did sign on such a ban a number of years ago...

So, with the Gerrer Rebbe against such performances (arvei Shira and the like), why is it ok for the Gur institutions to hold such an event with such a performance?

The answer given by the relevant askanim is that the culture in the USA is different so it is ok (even though it is on behalf of the Israeli institutions.

Sounds good to me. Whenever there is a self-defined cultural difference we are now able to ignore the psak of the gedolim and even our own rebbe... many people have said similarly in the past - that a given psak isn't relevant because of x, y or z differences - but now the response has the hechsher of one of the gedolim saying my psak can be ignored for those reasons.

Feb 19, 2017

the following sign was posted in buildings in the Ezras Torah neighborhood of Jerusalem:

the sign call son local residents to be aware of someone living in a certain building who complained to the police about an avreich who "a spirit of stupidity entered him" and dealt a bit with children. and now, because he was ratted out to the police hsi life has been destroyed and has ever since bee in deep depression. Instead of going to speak with rabbonim he chose to snitch to the police. The author of the sign then calls out the "impure chardak" to leave the neighborhood and says he has no portion in the world to come and should not defile the neighborhood with his presence.

Very strange sign. his "dealing with kids" was just a moment of stupidity and no word about the lives of those kids being possibly ruined and the depression or other troubles they very well might soon find themselves in. The poor avreich who was busy with kids however is now depressed because his life was ruined over one stupid mistake. The kids aren't important, but the avreich perp is.

Also interesting to me is the use of the term "chardak". Until now that term has only been used in reference to Haredi soldiers in the IDF. there is no other indication in the letter that this person is a soldier, though it is possible - but if not, it is interesting they call him a chardak because he went to the police. So now anybody they don't like who doesn't toe the line is a chardak, and not just soldiers...

Singer/Songwriter Daniel Kahn (Painted Bird), a leading figure in the Klezmer revival movement, performs Yiddish songs, cabaret, and punk folk music. With Jake Shulman-Ment and Psoy Korolenko, a program of KulturfestNYC 2015 from Joe’s Pub in NYC.

Feb 16, 2017

Cofix has announced they can no longer hold back from raising the prices of items in their shops from 5nis to 6nis.

That is a dramatic increase of 20%. Cofix says they delayed as long as they could but with minimum wage having been increased, along with real estate rental prices and other cost of living expenses increasing in price, they cannot continue to sell their coffee and other items at 5nis. 6nis is where it is at today.

That is a major increase in price. 20%. And they made a big deal about selling everything for just 5nis. But let's not forget that it is now just 6nis instead of 17nis or 20nis that the regular coffee shops are selling their coffee at. It will be just 6nis for a croissant or ice coffee or bowl of cholent compared to the 15nis or 12nis or whatever in the other shops, so people are still getting a great deal.

Better they should raise the price a bit and let the consumer still pay a fraction of what it costs elsewhere than go out of business and then the consumer would have to go back to having no choice but paying the high prices of the mainstream coffee shops...

MK Yehuda Glick (Likud) has proposed a law, that has the support of MKs from both sides of the benches,

Glick has proposed that tax breaks be offered to young couples that take a course to prepare them for marriage. The course would be designed to give a newly married couple the tools with which to cope as a couple and family in modern times and to help prevent violence within the family unit. The courses would give tools for communication and problem solving.

The Ministry of Social Welfare will certify various institutions to provide these courses. Participating couples will receive a voucher which will be worth half a point in the tax credit system. Participating couples will also be exempt from the marriage registration fee and would get the cost of the course reimbursed.

Opponents to the proposal say that married life is private and among different families and couples there are different methodologies employed and it is not the business of the State to get involved in such private matters.
source: Kipa

Is this a good idea or not? My only thought is that with divorce rates so high, perhaps today's young couple are somehow less equipped to deal with differences and change than couples in previous generations were. If the courses are designed properly, maybe ti can be a good thing and something that strengthens the family.

MK Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid) tried to get a law passed that would take away funding from educational institutions that are guilty of rejecting potential students based on their ethnic origin.

Cohen "expected" to at least get the support of Shas for the bill, if not also the support of UTJ. After all, the Haredi school system is among the worst offenders in this issue and many sefardi families in the Haredi community suffer from such discrimination and every year we hear the heartbreaking numbers of kids who have no school to go to simply because they are sefardi.

UTJ was not really expected to support the bill, as they do not fight for the little people. They tend to represent those who hold the power - the administrators of the institutions who are also usually the askanim of the community. UTJ has never fought against them, no matter how much they go against the instructions of the gedolim - any time the issue has come to the Knesset to possibly put an end to it, the UTJ MKs have not supported the victims.

Shas, on the other hand, does at least claim to fight for the weak, and at times they do. Their entire campaign for the last elections was predicated on that - their work on behalf of the "shkufim" - the transparent people, the little people - the people nobody else stands up for. Shas was expected to not oppose such a bill that was meant to protect the natural voters of Shas.

But they did.

Both UTJ and Shas opposed it, and not because it was a bad proposal, but because it was proposed by Yesh Atid. Shas was not going to oppose it but instead just leave the plenum and not be present for the voting. They were called back in when it seemed like the coalition might not have a majority without them, so they returned and voted against. MK Yigal Guetta even said afterwards that he voted against the bill but is embarrassed by it.

Not only that but UTJ is now threatening to "punish" Shas for considering not voting against the bill. UTJ is going to "reevaluate" its working relationship with Shas because of how Shas almost did not oppose the bill.

If only the people in charge would look out for, and work for, the people they are meant to be working for... that is, the people. not their honor, not their friends, but the people... if only..

There is always a debate, and a concern among people donating money to organizations, as to what is a legitimate percentage for the collector/meshulach/shnorrer to take as compensation from the monies he raised on their behalf. People want to know that the money they are donating is going to the organization, but it costs money to hire a fundraiser and they deserve a salary for their work and efforts. They surely deserve to earn a salary or commission - the question is simply how much is reasonable.

Rav Doni Schwartz of Machon Hatorah vHaaretz has written a detailed psak on the matter in which he says paying to the collector anything beyond 50% is unreasonable and is considered theft. He says that organizations should give a lot less than 50% but he leaves it open saying that it also depends on the amount of work the collector has to put into the job.

Rav Schwartz brings from Rav Shternbuch that a colelctor is allowed to take a portion of the money because otherwise nobody would be willing to fundraise for the organizations, so like the halacha by poor people that nobody will look out for them if they did not earn some of the money, that applies to these organizations as well.

Rav Schwartz also brings from Rav Zilbershtein that it is still considered tzedaka for the donors and giving some of the money to the fundraiser is nto considered going against the wishes of the donor who wants his money to go to tzedaka. Rav Zilbershtein explains that the fundraiser works on their behalf and deserves to get paid and this is like any other expense or salary the yeshiva has to pay.

So, a yeshiva could designate a portion of the money raised for the collector and it is not considered theft from the poor for whom the money was designated. The recipients are "moichel" the reasonable percentage so that someone will be willing to do the work to raise a lot more money for them than he otherwise would.

However, Rav Schwartz makes the point that giving anything beyond 50% is already too much and nobody donating money agrees to the majority of his money going to pay for the collector. So anything beyond that is unreasonable and would be considered theft. The exact amount he receives should be base don a combination of factors such as how much work and effort he must put in, the value of the "brand" for which he is collecting, with an upward limit of 50%.

I wonder who is considered stealing in such a case where the fundraiser takes more than 50%. A case could be made that he isn't stealing anything as he is working for an organization and whatever they negotiated is fair for him to take. Maybe the yeshiva or organization agreeing to use the collected money to pay more than 50% to the fundraiser is the one stealing, but the money is there to be used for their expenses, and this is an expense. It seems the donor is being deceived and the yeshiva/poor people are being stolen from, but I am not sure who guilty of the theft. Maybe the two together - the collector and the yeshiva administrator.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project, where they sift through the dirt and rubble removed from Temple Mount by the Arabs from their construction projects, has posted on its website the discovery of a number of shells of the Murex Trunculus snail.

Being that such snails are generally found along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and not inland, they suspect there might have been a dye producing "factory" on site or very nearby for the purpose of producing the argaman (purplish hue) and tekhelet (sky blue hue) dyes for the various needs of the Temple, as these two color dyes are both produced from the Murex snail.

It is not a great proof that the murex is the true source of the tekhelet, as perhaps it was only used for the argaman and not the tekhelet, but this discovery can definitely be added to the long list compiled by the Ptil Tekhelet organization as strong indicators of being the true source.

Danny Ayalon, Founder of the "Truth About Israel", Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Israeli Ambassador to the United States explains the facts about Jerusalem and the Jewish People. Ayalon explains why President Trump's promise to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, Israel's Capital, is firmly based on the ongoing historical, religious, cultural and physical connection of the Jews to their holy capital. Ayalon explains that in the last 2000 years empires came and left, conquered colonized and occupied Jerusalem - but they have never turned it into their capital. And while Jerusalem is holy also to Muslims, it's importance is secondary, and even when praying on Temple Mount they turn their backs to the Dome of the Rock and face Mecca.

Feb 14, 2017

The Ministry of Defense is not transferring the money for the treatment of the Syrian refugees, despite its commitment to do so. This is increasing the deficit if the hospitals in the north... if payment will not be arranged, retroactive as well, I will prohibit hospitals from accepting new refugee patients. I'll go crazy. Don't be a bleeding heart on my back.

-- Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman, commenting on the 300 million nis costs involved until now in treating wounded Syrian refugees.

There is a humanitarian crisis in Syria, and whatever help can be offered should be offered, but someone has to pay for it. While sick/injured Syrians get free and immediate health care in Israel, many Israelis are destitute and sick and for them there is no money available from the government. It is important to help the Syrian victims, but if that much money is being spent on them then there should be more money available to help needy Israelis..

this is a picture of the "mitzva tanse" of the rebbe of Kretchnif Siget with a kalla - the kalla of his son. This is form the last night of sheva brachos - in Kretchnif SIget their custom is that the rebbe does his mitzva tanse at both the wedding and at the last night of sheva brachos. Due to a shortage of space available in the beis medrash, the mitzva tanse was performed long distance via an extra long gartel or rope, with the kalla in the ezras nashim.
source: Behadrei

According to a report on Kikar, the people of the Arab village of Husan, along with some people from the neighboring Jewish town of Beitar, are upset that the army has decided to try to put an end to the recent increase in stone throwing incidents from Husan on cars passing on the road below the village (375). To that end the IDF has now prohibited the entry of Jews into Husan, and IDF tractors blocked the egress from Husan to the road forcing locals to use an alternate bypass road.

The Husan people are upset that they are now losing all the Jewish business [mostly] from Beitar, and say it will have the opposite effect from the desired effect. They say it is kids doing the stone throwing, urged by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and they have no control over this no matter how much the IDF punishes them. The say the IDF knows who is responsible and can punish those families alone and not everyone collectively, but they prefer to have the village leaders do the dirty work, though it will be ineffective.

The Beitar people are upset that now they will have to pay more for construction materials and for getting cars repaired because they cannot go to Husan to take advantage of the cheaper prices.

1. they basically support and confirm the concept of economic peace that many, including Bibi, have spoken about. Meaning, as long as they are making a decent living, they won't want to get involved in all that fighting that often hurts them economically. The people of Husan are saying exactly that. It i sjust kids. We just want to make a living. Hurting our bottom line by banning the Jews will just radicalize more people.

2. weird how despite the regular terror inflicted on the Jews, both local and others just passing through, [some of] the people of Beitar are still upset at the thought of having to go somewhere else and pay more money to fix their cars and buy goods. They'd prefer to support the people throwing stones on them then to pay extra elsewhere.

3. they all claim to know better than the IDF what security measures will and will not work.

According to a report on INN, a group of left-wingers' are planning on joining the Likud in order to influence the direction of the party to lean more leftward, despite not having any intention of actually voting for the party in future general elections.

a. they will never get enough people to join the Likud to do anything significant.
b. even if they tried, the Likud could technically reject their membership, citing the clear lack of identification with, and actual opposition to, Likud policy. Labor just did that when Amir Chetzroni tried to join their party. Likud did it when Hatzel joined. It happens all the time, and would surely happen if the Likud leadership caught wind of an attempt at a hostile takeover.
c. Moshe Feiglin tried this from the other side, going more right-wing. After 15 years of trying, see where it got him and how he changed the Likud. He gave up.
d. it should be fun to watch

Feb 13, 2017

In an attempt to lighten the loads from the traffic courts, and in general to make the traffic laws bear harsher punishments, a proposal has been out forward by which a driver who appeals a fine to the courts and loses that appeal would have his fine doubled automatically.

About 30% of cases in the traffic courts are of people appealing their fines. Of those, the vast majority end up admitting guilt. This unnecessary tie-up of the courts would be relieved by the doubling of the fines - drivers will consider the situation carefully before appealing.
source: TheMarker

Everybody is entitled to their day in court. Threatening with the doubling of the fine to prevent people from going to court is taking away that basic right.

Machon Keter - an organization that studies and encourages finances according to a torah approach - has published an interesting psak regarding the purchase of tefillin.

The question they dealt with was how to relate to holy objects - tefillin and mezuza - that was purchased from someone who does not pay his taxes. Is such a person - a sofer who does not pay taxes - passul or lose his status of being a trustworthy and reliable person (from a halachic standpoint)? Are using such objects considered performing a mitzva via an aveira? can you make a bracha on such tefillin?

Their conclusions were that:
1. a sofer who evades taxes or steals from other people is not passul from writing holy objects like tefilllin and mezuza and his status as trustworthy and reliable remains.

2. somebody who buys tefillin "black" cannot make a bracha on the tefillin he acquired through an aveira. By buying "black" he is assisting in an aveira, and cannot make a bracha, and therefor eit is also prohibited to purchase tefillin like that. However, if the person already wore the tefillin, bdieved he fulfilled his obligation - the tefillin themselves do not become passul.

If the buyer truly does not know what the seller does regarding the paying of the required taxes, despite being negligent in not clarifying before purchasing, he can make a bracha on his tefillin. And, this is dependent on his knowledge at the time of purchase - even if he finds out later that the seller did not pay his taxes, he can continue putting on his tefillin.
source: Kipa

I am pretty sure that at least 99 times out of 100 a buyer will have no idea if the seller is paying taxes or not and won't even think of asking. It might even be rude to ask, as if you are saying you suspect that he is doing something illegal. The relevant situation might be where you ask for a discount of the taxes for paying cash.

Feb 12, 2017

CIJ News, an online Candian publication that focuses on anti-semitism, points to an Imam in Canada who has publicly prayed for the annihilation of the Jews.

According to CIJ, "Quebec Imam Sayed AlGhitawi (سيد الغتاوي) recited supplications to Allah to support the mujahideen (Muslims who engage in jihad) in Palestine and to inflict total destruction on the Jews."

I don't care about this guy's prayer. What he davens for does not interest or bother me in the least. As long as he is not inciting others to violence or acting out on his wishes, just prayers alone don't bother me. The problem is that as an Imam with such a public prayer, chances are he is, at minimum, inciting to violence... that being the case, Canada needs to put an end to these types of things...

Food trucks get green light to roll into Jerusalem

Food trucks can be great for city neighborhoods and provide awesome food options. They are known to have problems and many cities ban them or tightly regulate them regarding health and hygienic standards, so this will have to be administered and supervised carefully before we end up with problems.

I wonder how this would affect Shabbos and chilul shabbos in the city. A restaurant deciding to open on Shabbos is always a big deal. it becomes public knowledge very quickly. There are hechsher issues. There might be protests, though even if not they could be a target of attempts at legislation or public awareness campaigns... with a food truck it seems like it might be much easier for a restaurant to operate on Shabbos via the food truck, even if the owner keeps the actual restaurant closed on Shabbos, and it might be easier for them to get away with it, due to its size and mobility.... I don't know if there will be Shabbos restrictions on these food trucks getting licensed but if not I can see this becoming a serious breach in the ability to fight the ever-expanding amount of chilul shabbos in Jerusalem.

There are some people who think that only Rav Vaye (expert rabbi in bug infestations in fruits and vegetables) have the right to have an opinion/stance on such matters, and nobody else, no matter how learned that person might be or how involved and knowledgeable in kashut matters that person might be, if this person's opinion is any different than Rav Vaye's, it is to be discounted and rejected. Rav Vaye is the expert and nobody else can have an opinion or psak. When I asked such a person about kashrut organizations that pasken differently than Rav Vaye, such as regarding how to deal with strawberries, the response was that he is the expert, Rav Elyashiv said so, and therefore they are not experts and do not know what they are talking about - only Rav Vaye and the people he himself has trained, have the right to pasken on such matters.

I have no problem with people wanting to follow the psak of Rav Vaye. If they want to check certain fruits or greens a certain way, or stay away from others, because of what Rav Vaye paskened about those items, labriyut, as they say. Eat, don't eat - it is your business, and I don't really care.

What does get to me is the rejection of any other opinion as illegitimate.

Besides for having heard many times from other rabbonim and kashrus organizations how to check strawberries and corn on the cob, for example, in order to properly eat them, the Chief Rabbi himself, in a recent shiur about eating Tu B'Shvat fruits, discussed the matter as well.

Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef said that Rav Vaye has done great work raising the awareness of bugs and infestations, thus making people knowledgeable regarding the need to check for bugs. But his approach is wrong. Rav Vaye says you are not allowed to eat strawberries, corn, figs, sunflower seeds... but according to the halacha only when there is a significant minority of infested fruit does one have to check it. Rav Yosef testifies about his father, Rav Ovadia, that he himself would open figs to check them and then give them out to the others to eat. Strawberries, you just need to cut off the top, split them in half, and then eat it.

Rav Yosef describes having bought campers fresh corn on the cob and when one asked about bugs he offered to pay $1 per bug found. He says all 100 students looked very carefully but not one bug was found.

Rav Yosef says about sunflower seeds that Rav Vaye found a bug in one and photographed it, magnified the picture and says they are infested and you can't eat them unless you check every single seed. That is bittul torah, Rav Yosef says! According to halacha [Rav Vaye] is wrong - this is not a significant minority of infested produce - a few bugs in a pack of sunflower seeds? People need to know that not everything is prohibited.

I fully support what Rav Yosef said, as if he needs my support. He is saying exactly what I heard form many other rabbonim. If you want to follow Rav Vaye and avoid corn and avoid strawberries and avoid other fruits, go ahead, but he is not the only voice out there.

Are there remnants of the lost tribes of Israel among the First Nations? • Did native Americans have contact with ancient Hebrews? • Steve Ganot speaks with Chief Joseph and Dr. Laralyn RiverWind about the relationship between the two peoples.

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About Me

I am a regular Joe with a Yeshiva background. I learned in Telshe Yeshiva, Heichal HaTorah (R' Tzvi Kushelevsky), and a now defunct Halacha Kollel. I have semicha from R' Zalman Nechemia Goldberg and kaballa in Shechita from Dayan Schwartz of Kehillas HaYeraim (Chomas HaKashrus). I have a college degree in Finance from Touro College and am also a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.
My wife and I, with our 8 children, ben porat yosef (knayna hara), live in Eretz Yisrael.